The Effect of Buckyball C(60) Irradiation on the Fluidity of Erythrocyte Membranes.

The erythrocyte membranes were prepared from fresh human blood and 1,6-dipheny1-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) was used as a probe to detect their change of fluidity. It was found that after brief irradiation, C(60) remarkably increased the degree of fluorescence polarization of the DPH-labeled erythrocyte membrane, suggesting that C(60) irradiation could greatly reduce the fluidity of erythrocyte membrane. It was also found that the reduction of membrane fluidity was mainly due to the oxidation of sulfhydry groups in the membrane protein and the peroxidation of membrane unsaturated fatty acids.